helwen

Was chatting with someone in their LJ about the difficulties of the 90%/Riot for Austerity challenge, and wanting to make all the changes now. I completely understand that frustration. You make a decision that you want to do things a certain way, or learn new skills, or whatever, and then reality sets in. Things worth having take time to achieve -- we keep hearing that in one ear in our society, and in the other is the culture of instant gratification.

Although I think it's a bit more than that... transitions are difficult. Even if the goal is a positive one, there are things that have to be let go of, the uncertainty of whether this is the correct path to take, and the uncertainty/thrill/fear of learning new things (including whether or not one will successfully learn them).

The Riot of Austerity challenges a way of life and of living. Even if one embraces the idea behind it, it's a huge change in how one views life. Some things are easier to give up than others. How to we justify our hobbies? Humans are social animals to one degree or another, it's a part of our mental, emotional, and physical health. Some hobbies and activities are harder on the environment than others, and there are ways to ameliorate some of the effects from them (like, use cleaning products that are better for the environment at Pennsic and other camping events, for instance).

And then there's another part of human nature. If we try to change all of our habits at once, how many of the new habits will stick? Supposedly it takes a month of practice for a habit to stick, but I can tell you from personal experience that even after doing something for 5 _years_, a habit or activity can change. Which is good if it's a bad habit, but not so good if it's a good habit. So, a regular review of one's life is a good idea...now if I can just remember to do that!

My take on the challenge, of taking about 3 or so years, is kind of like going to college. The freshman year is usually the most exciting and also the roughest - learning the basics and the schedule for classes can be kind of funky compared to high school. On the other hand, you meet new people, expand your horizons, and work on laying out what the plan is for your degree program (well, in theory -- mine changed a few times). So our first year we're trying out a lot of things, doing a lot of research, seeing what works for us, etc., and planning what we can do/learn in the next few years. Some of it will work. Some of it won't. Sometimes there'll be frustration at how long it seems to be taking to get something to happen. But as long as we remember to cheer ourselves on and celebrate the successes along the way, we should make it to graduation :)

My two cents.